Assigning JSON Value to PHP Array from Google Maps API Query

Question

I am trying to find a way to assign the JSON value Google Map's API Returns when passed an address. I would search Google, but I am only a few month deep into PHP and really don't know what keywords to use. I really don't even know what a JSON is?

Anyway, I found this article that explains how to query Google Maps with an address and have it return a GPS Location. When I tested it in my browser, the text appears. I just don't know what to use to take what the browser is displaying and assign in to an Object in a PHP page.

This is the Google Maps Query:

http://maps.google.com/maps/geo?q="ADDRESS"&output=csv&oe=utf8

This my function where I want to use this:

//Queries Google Map's API with an address and assigns the returned GPS Location 
//to this Object
public function build_me($this_address)
{
    //Builds the query from the address array to send to the Goole Maps API
    $query = $this_address["Line1"].",".$this_address["Line2"].",".
             $this_address["City"].",".$this_address["State"].",".$this_address["Zip"];

    //Location_Array = http://maps.google.com/maps/geo?q=$query&output=csv&oe=utf8
    $this->latitude  = //Location_Array['Something'];
    $this->longitude = //Location_Array['Something'];
}

This is the article that I am referring to: http://martinsikora.com/how-to-get-gps-coordinates-from-an-address

My question is, how would I go about doing this? Are there any good tutorials on this? Thanks in advance for anyone pointing me in the right direction!

Answer 1

Actually the URL you are showing will produce a CSV output (that is why it has the output=csv parameter). You can see it if you simply insert it into your browser (Downing Street 10):

200,8,45.9797693,-66.5854067

Here are some useful resources to get the job done:

• cURL to make the call to the Google API
• cURL Tutorial
• str_getcsv() to parse a CSV string into a PHP array
• (json_decode() to translate JSON to PHP arrays/objects - just in case you're gonna need it later)